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Dana White Reveals How To Stop Conor McGregor From Holding Up Division

The UFC is starting to realize that they are gonna have to do something with the lightweight title that is currently held by Conor McGregor. With McGregor not likely to defend it anytime soon, the promotion appears to understand that they are going to have to strip him of it. As recently as Thursday, UFC […]

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The UFC is starting to realize that they are gonna have to do something with the lightweight title that is currently held by Conor McGregor.

With McGregor not likely to defend it anytime soon, the promotion appears to understand that they are going to have to strip him of it.

As recently as Thursday, UFC President Dana White announced a lightweight bout that would see interim champion Tony Ferguson take on title contender Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 223 on April 7.

Keep in mind that as of this writing, the promotion has yet to note if it would be for the interim or official title.

Despite the fact that White has yet to confirm what the two fighters are competing for, he did drop a big hint that he is getting ready to strip McGregor of the title because, in his words, McGregor can’t hold up the title or the division any longer.

“He can’t hold up the title, can’t hold up the whole division,” White said on the Toucher and Rich radio show (transcribed by Ryan Harkness for Uproxx). “There’s a lot of guys that I have to deal with every day that aren’t worth the aggravation.

This kid is worth the aggravation and I have so much respect for him, what he’s accomplished, what he’s done. If he wants to ride off into the sunset with his money for the rest of his life, I don’t blame him. And if he wants to come back and fight, we’ll get him back in. He just can’t hold the division hostage.”

“You take the belt,” he replied. “In any sport, the NBA, the NFL, hockey, whatever it may be. No one guy can hold the whole sport hostage. It just doesn’t happen. When Conor was getting ready for this Mayweather fight, I was already making plans for Conor to never come back.”

The company and the business goes on, and there will be other stars. The NBA didn’t roll it up and pack it up when Jordan left. And they won’t when LeBron goes either. The list goes on and on.”

This wouldn’t be the first time that the promotion has stripped their biggest PPV draw of a title. If you recall, he was stripped of the featherweight title shortly after beating Eddie Alvarez to become a two-division champ at UFC 205.

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Coach: Conor McGregor Will Still Be Real Lightweight Champ After UFC 223

Accused of being held hostage by Conor’s McGregor 14-month inactivity, the UFC lightweight division got at least some degree of clarity when this week UFC president Dana White revealed interim champion Tony Ferguson would face top-ranked contender Khabib Nurmagomedov at April 7’s UFC 223 from Brooklyn, New York. Not surprisingly, White wouldn’t say if the […]

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Not surprisingly, White wouldn’t say if the bout would be for the undisputed 155-pound title after the UFC stripped ‘The Notorious’ as had been rumored the night before.

So even though the UFC said they would ‘absolutely’ strip their biggest name of the belt, it’s probably not in their best financial interest to do so. They can have an unprecedented fourth attempt at booking Ferguson vs. Khabib, and perhaps it will finally happen to deliver a nice pay-per-view haul that would set up a truly monstrous unification bout with McGregor.

As we’ve seen, there’s far from anything close to a guarantee that it will, however, and McGregor’s head coach John Kavanagh is well aware of that fact. During a recent Facebook live interview (via MMA Fighting), the Straight Blast Gym coach said he wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t happen because Nurmagomedov’s grinding top-control style comes with a high price:

“I do think there is a really high risk of it not happening. It’s been scheduled twice and it has not happened twice.

“It’s very impressive what Khabib can do when he is fighting, just that pace he has and the relentless pressure, but it does require you to train in a certain way that brings on injuries. There is a reason why he is averaging one fight or less over the last couple of years because of multiple surgeries and so on. He’s got a lot of miles on the athletic clock. I would almost see as there being a high likelihood of one pulling out before the fight happens.”

Kavanagh went on to assume both fighters did make it and predicted Nurmagomedov would get through some adversity to wear down ‘El Cucuy,’ but wouldn’t have the stopping power to finish the fight just as he didn’t in his dominant unanimous decision win over Edson Barboza at December 30’s UFC 219:

“Let’s assume both get through their training camps, they’re both healthy, it happens and it’s five rounds. I think Tony will have some moments in the first round or two where he gets close with some guillotines or triangles, but I think Khabib powers out of them and wears him down as he does.

“I don’t think he really has the stopping power to finish him. His victory over Barboza was very impressive and so one sided, but he didn’t really break him up. His face wasn’t bashed up and rearranged, it was more just the volume of shots and guard passing and so on. I think that would start to wear on Tony and he’d start to steal rounds with takedowns. Yeah, Khabib by unanimous decision.”

The specter of the popular Irishman would always loom large over the division even if the UFC does decide to strip the title from him according to Kavanagh. That dynamic, he said, will loom large no matter how UFC 223 is sold.

And with the “Notorious’” shadow hanging overhead, his coach claimed the winner of Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov would always have to face the Irish star to be called the true champion:

“I think regardless of what way it’s sold, I think it’s still going to be known who the champion is. I know that’s going to upset a lot of people, but there you go, that’s my opinion on it.

“If it happens that those guys fight each other, and if it happens for the belt, they’re both going to think to themselves, ‘I’ve got to beat Conor to be really seen as the champion.’”

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Dana White Confirms Ferguson vs. Khabib Will Happen At UFC 223

Yesterday, a report surfaced that interim UFC lightweight champion Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov would face off for the unified title at April 7’s UFC 223 from Brooklyn. Today, it appears that has been confirmed by UFC president Dana White. In Boston for this weekend’s UFC 220 pay-per-view event from TD Garden, White told the […]

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Yesterday, a report surfaced that interim UFC lightweight champion Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov would face off for the unified title at April 7’s UFC 223 from Brooklyn.

Today, it appears that has been confirmed by UFC president Dana White. In Boston for this weekend’s UFC 220 pay-per-view event from TD Garden, White told the Toucher & Rich morning show that the fight was on for UFC 223:

“That fight is going to happen. It will happen.”

Sources also confirmed to MMA Fighting’s Ariel Helwani that the fight would take place at UFC 223; however, nothing was confirmed in regards to what version of the lightweight title would be on the line, as the previous report stated it would be for the unified title after the UFC stripped current champion Conor McGregor due to inactivity.

For what it’s worth, White did not address that situation on Toucher & Rich.

If and when Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov is confirmed, it will mark an incredible fourth time the two have been scheduled to fight each other without it actually happening. The first two fell apart due to an injury from each fighter, then the most anticipated iteration of the bout was canceled when Nurmagomedov infamously missed weight and was hospitalized prior to the most recent scheduling at 2017’s UFC 209.

Both fighters have continued to maintain success at the highest levels since, with Ferguson winning the interim belt against Kevin Lee at UFC 216, while Khabib recently returned to the octagon with a dominant destruction of Edson Barboza at December 30’s UFC 219.

Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov is expected to be announced during UFC 220 this weekend, and a women’s strawweight title rematch between Rose Namajunas and Joanna Jedrzejczyk is expected to serve as the co-headliner, although it has not been officially confirmed yet.

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Breaking: Dana White Confirms Ferguson vs. Nurmagomedov on For UFC 223

It looks like there was something to earlier reports after all. Those reports claimed that interim Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight title holder Tony Ferguson would be taking on Khabib Nurmagomedov inside the Barclays Center in Brooklyn…

Report: Ferguson vs. Khabib Set For April After UFC Strips McGregor

If a recent report proves true, the UFC lightweight title picture could be getting some extremely much-needed clarity very soon. Earlier today a report surfaced from Russian site Tass.ru that interim 155-pound champion Tony Ferguson will take on top contender Khabib Nurmagomedov for the official title at April 7’s UFC 223 from Brooklyn, New York. The […]

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If a recent report proves true, the UFC lightweight title picture could be getting some extremely much-needed clarity very soon.

Earlier today a report surfaced from Russian site Tass.ru that interim 155-pound champion Tony Ferguson will take on top contender Khabib Nurmagomedov for the official title at April 7’s UFC 223 from Brooklyn, New York. The news was later confirmed from reported sources by BJPenn.com, who backed up the initial report.

Apparently the contract for the highly-anticipated bout – which has fallen apart several times already – has been signed, and the fight will be officially announced at this weekend’s (Sat., January 20, 2018) UFC 220 from TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts.

The biggest news about the fight, of course, is that the fight will be for the undisputed title after the promotion strips current champion Conor McGregor for his 14-month inactivity.

UFC president Dana White has made several headlines about potentially stripping McGregor, who has not fought in MMA since defeating Eddie Alvarez for the title at UFC 205 in November 2016, most recently saying the UFC would “absolutely” strip the Irish champion if he didn’t want to return to the octagon until the fall.

Now, it appears the UFC has made that call, and the lightweight affair between Ferguson and Nurmagomedov, a fight fans have been anticipating for years, will now take place with the highest possible stakes on the line. That is, if and when it’s officially confirmed by the UFC.

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Dana White Reveals Uriah Hall Was ‘Partying In L.A. Clubs’ Before Missing Weight

The MMA world lost a potentially hard-hitting co-main event between Uriah Hall and Vitor Belfort at last night’s (Sun. January 14, 2017) UFC St. Louis when Hall was unable to weigh in and forced to withdraw from the bout following a scary scene where he reportedly fainted and had a seizure. The tough last-minute withdrawal put […]

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The tough last-minute withdrawal put the frightening weight-cutting practices of the sport into the crosshairs yet again, and many asked if the UFC needed to make more effort to curb such drastic cuts and the subsequent adverse effects they have on a growing number of high-profile bouts.

However, if we’re to believe UFC president Dana White, Hall’s situation wasn’t one of just the weight cut becoming a health issue. According to the UFC exec in a post-fight scrum via MMA Fighting, Hall wasn’t taking his training at the UFC Performance Insitute in Las Vegas seriously, and had even gone as far as going to Los Angeles to party a week before his fight with Belfort:

“I have a very long relationship with Uriah, I like him very much personally. But the guy’s at the UFC (Performance Institutute) said he doesn’t take it serious. He doesn’t take his training serious, he doesn’t do what anybody tells him. He does his own thing.

“A week before the fight, he went to L.A. and was hanging out in L.A. in clubs and stuff. So, not good. So I’m going to talk to him, he texted me tonight. He’ s back in his room, obviously he’s not good, and if you don’t cut weight the right way and you don’t do what you’re supposed to do, this is what happens.”

The discussion about weight cutting and the issues created by it will most likely continue to grow larger, but White insisted there are more healthy ways to cut weight.

For the fighters who are unable to do it the right way, he said, the best decision is to move up a weight class in hopes of recreating their careers as several fighters such as Rafael dos Anjos have in recent years:

“What I think they need to think about is fight at 205. Fight at 205 or show up and do what you’re supposed to do. There’s ways to cut weight properly and safely. You need to start doing that. That’s why we are encouraging everybody to come to the UFC Performance Institute. These guys down there, all the people that go there and do what they’re told to do and do it the right way, cut weight safely.

“The guys who don’t listen, this is what happens. And much like the Kelvin Gastelums and the Johny Hendricks and the other people out there – if you can’t make that weight, then fight at a higher weight division.”

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